Iris Lewandowski

• University of Hohenheim

Miscanthus is considered a promising candidate for the cultivation of marginal land. This land poses unique challenges, and experiments have shown that the “establishment phase” is of paramount importance to the long-term yield performance of miscanthus. This experiment analyzes novel miscanthus hybrids and how their establishment on marginal land...

As warm season droughts increase in frequency due to climate change, causing severe yield losses especially among cereal crops, European agriculture is in dire need of adaptation. While agroforestry is widely regarded as a key adaptation measure, little is known on how yield performance is influenced by changing water availability in temperate regi...

Industrial crops grown on marginal lands offer a potential source of low‐iLUC feedstock for bio‐based industries, supporting sustainable bioeconomic development. However, marginal‐land‐based bioeconomy systems face significant uncertainties at early stages, such as limited data, farmers' hesitancy to adopt novel crops, undeveloped markets and immat...

Die Treibhausgasbilanz der Universität Hohenheim stellt die (zweite) umfassende Bewertung des aktuellen Stands der relevanten Treibhausgasemissionen der Universität dar (2023). Dabei wurden die verschiedenen Energie- und Güterflüsse, sowie direkte Emissionen der Universität hinsichtlich ihres Beitrags zur Erderwärmung untersucht. Die Emissionen wer...

Novel recycled fertilizers could help close environmental nutrient cycles in the circular economy. To better understand their performance and residual value, commercially available biobased nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) fertilizers (BBFs) were tested in a two-year crop cycle of winter wheat and ryegrass. The N fertilizer replacement value of N-BB...

As warm season droughts increase in frequency due to climate change, causing severe yield losses especially among cereal crops, European agriculture is in dire need of adaptation. While agroforestry is widely regarded as a key adaptation measure, little is known on how yield performance is influenced by changing water availability. Therefore, we as...

Harvest time is an important variable that determines the yield of miscanthus biomass, its possible end uses, and the nutrient offtake from the field. Green harvests result in a higher yield and greater nutrient removal from the field. Brown miscanthus harvests, carried out in late winter or early spring, result in lower yields and a lower nutrient...

This study reviews a variety of “bioeconomy approaches” (BAs) to assess their potential contribution to resilience in agricultural systems, focusing on benefits that can improve multi‐functionality regarding private and public goods. It is based on Meuwissen et al.'s framework to assess the resilience of farming systems. Drawing on literature and e...

For political and environmental reasons, there is an urgent need for alternatives to energy-intensive synthetic fertilizers. One solution is the targeted recycling of nutrients within agriculture. In this study, liquid ammonium sulphate (LAS) as a recycling product derived from digestate treatment was compared to calcium ammonium nitrate, manure an...

Climate change is expected to decrease water availability in many agricultural production areas around the globe. At the same time renewable energy concepts such as agrivoltaics (AV) are necessary to manage the energy transition. Several studies showed that evapotranspiration can be reduced in AV systems, resulting in increased water availability f...

The perennial and herbaceous plant Sida hermaphrodita L. Rusby (Sida) has been investigated intensively with respect to its use as a solid biofuel for combustion and, to a lesser extent, for continuous biogas production. Since biogas production provides many opportunities for economic farm diversification, this study compared the biogas potential o...

Perennial biomass crops (PBCs) can potentially contribute to all ten Common Agricultural Policy (2023-27) objectives and up to eleven of the seventeen UN Sustainable Development Goals. This paper discusses interlinked issues that must be considered in the expansion of PBC production: i) available land; ii) yield potential; iii) integration into far...

Perennial biomass crops (PBCs) can potentially contribute to all ten Common Agricultural Policy (2023-27) objectives and up to eleven of the seventeen UN Sustainable Development Goals. This paper discusses interlinked issues that must be considered in the expansion of PBC production: i) available land; ii) yield potential; iii) integration into far...

This study presents an economic assessment of an up- and downstream process (USP and DSP) using P. tricornutum in flat-panel airlift photobioreactors (FPA-PBRs) with artificial illumination. Depending on the solvent, it is possible to obtain separately a crystalline fucoxanthin and eicosapentaenoic acid-rich (EPA) oil or a fucoxanthin- and EPA-rich...

Perennial energy grasses have gained attention in recent years as a promising resource for the bioeconomy because of their benign environmental profile, high stress tolerance, high biomass yields and low input requirements. Currently, strong breeding efforts are being made to extend the range of commercially available miscanthus and switchgrass gen...

Natural ingredients (NIs) from plant biodiversity represent a value creation strategy in the transition to a sustainable biobased economy, especially in biodiversity rich countries. A necessary action to achieve this purpose is to orientate research and strengthen the knowledge base of NIs following a value chain (VC) approach. Although the promoti...

5‐Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) is a versatile platform chemical for a fossil free, bio‐based chemical industry. HMF can be produced by using fructose as a feedstock. Using edible, first‐generation biomass to produce chemicals has been questioned in terms of potential competition with food supply. Second‐generation biomass like miscanthus could be an...

Social aspects of miscanthus cultivation have been investigated in a limited way in the scientific literature. Adopting existing frameworks for social life‐cycle assessment enables assessments to include numerous social aspects; however, the relevance of these aspects depends on the local context. This study aims to identify the most relevant socia...

Demand for sustainably produced biomass is expected to increase with the need to provide renewable commodities, improve resource security, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with COP26 commitments. Studies have demonstrated additional environmental benefits of using perennial biomass crops (PBCs), when produced appropriately, as a feedstoc...

Due to its versatility and storability, biomass is an important resource for renewable materials and energy. Miscanthus hybrids combine high yield potential, low input demand, tolerance of certain marginal land types and several ecosystem benefits. To date, miscanthus breeding has focussed on increasing yield potential by maximising radiation inter...

Die Treibhausgasbilanz der Universität Hohenheim stellt eine erste umfassende Bewertung des aktuellen Stands der relevanten Treibhausgasemissionen der Universität dar. Dabei wurden die verschiedenen Energie- und Güterflüsse, sowie direkte Emissionen der Universität hinsichtlich ihres Beitrags zur Erderwärmung untersucht. Die Emissionen werden gemä...

Miscanthus, a C4 perennial rhizomatous grass from Asia is a leading candidate for the supply of sustainable biomass needed to grow the bioeconomy. European Miscanthus breeding programmes have recently produced a new range of seeded hybrids with the objective of increasing scalability to large acreages limited by current clonal propagation. For the...

New biomass crop hybrids for bioeconomic expansion require yield projections to determine their potential for strategic land use planning in the face of global challenges. Our biomass growth simulation incorporates radiation interception and conversion efficiency. Models often use leaf area to predict interception which is demanding to determine ac...

The demand for food and renewable energy is increasing significantly, whereas the availability of land for agricultural use is declining. Agrivoltaic systems (AVS), which combine agricultural production with solar energy generation on the same area, are a promising opportunity with the potential to satisfy this demand while avoiding land-use confli...

The diversification of biomass resources is key to the transition towards a bioeconomy. Acrocomia spp., a neotropical genus of palms, is an example of plants’ diversity potential for a sustainable bioeconomy. Acrocomia’s adaptability to environments outside rainforests, its specific fruit properties and high yields has generated the interest of res...

In Ukraine, 6.5 million hectares of agricultural land characterized by heavy clay soil could be available for sustainable bioenergy crop cultivation because they are considered marginal for food crop cultivation. This study investigated the biomass dry matter yield (DMY) of willow (Salix triandra L. and Salix viminalis L.) and Miscanthus (Miscanthu...

Two major global challenges related to agriculture are climate change and the unbalanced nitrogen cycle. For both, national and international reduction targets have been defined to catalyse policy support for more sustainable farming systems. Miscanthus cultivation in water protection areas has been proposed as a contribution to achieving these tar...

Miscanthus, a C4 perennial rhizomatous grass, is capable of growing in varied climates and soil types in Europe, including on marginal lands. It can produce high yields with low nutrient inputs when harvested after complete senescence. Senescence induction and rate depend on complex genetic, environmental, and management interactions. To explore th...

In 2012, the government of Baden-Württemberg was one of the first state governments in Germany to decide to develop its own bioeconomy research strategy. This chapter describes the conception of and cooperation within the resulting research program. The overarching goals of the activities funded by the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts wer...

Social risk assessment using databases allows sustainability practitioners’ rapid identification of social hotspots in value chains. The Soca database for sustainability assessment allows practitioners to perform a social risk assessment in addition to environmental assessment. As it is based on Ecoinvent, a database for environmental appraisal, th...

Acrocomia spp., a genus of wild-growing palms in the neotropics, is rapidly gaining interest as a promising multipurpose crop. Diverse products can be derived from various components of the palm, the oils being of highest interest. Acrocomia shows similar oil yield and fatty acid composition to the African oil palm ( Elaeis guineensis ). It is, how...

Aims The intensification of grassland management can cause a loss of biodiversity through the alteration of the structure and micro-environmental conditions within the sward. The species richness of hay meadows protected within the Natura 2000 network is often endangered by high levels of fertilisation, and related to that often an increased cuttin...

Cultivation of P. tricornutum with sunlight is not recommendable from an economic point of view but leads to lower environmental burden from an ecologic point of view under the modelled process parameters and the climatic conditions of Germany.

Agrivoltaic (AV) systems integrate the production of agricultural crops and electric power on the same land area through the installation of solar panels several meters above the soil surface. It has been demonstrated that AV can increase land productivity and contribute to the expansion of renewable energy production. Its utilization is expected t...

The search for approaches to a holistic sustainable agriculture requires the development of new cropping systems that provide additional ecosystem services beyond biomass supply for food, feed, material, and energy use. The reduction of chemical synthetic plant protection products is a key instrument to protect vulnerable natural resources such as...

Commercially achieved biomass yields are often lower than those obtained in scientific plot trials and estimated by crop models. This phenomenon is commonly referred to as the ‘commercial yield gap’. It needs to be understood and managed to achieve the yield expectations that underpin business models. Cutting height at harvest is one of the key fac...

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a widely recognized tool for the assessment of the potential environmental impacts associated with the life cycle of a product or service. The environmental impact category most commonly quantified in LCAs is global warming potential, a measure of greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions. For agricultural products such as mis...

Agrivoltaic (AV) systems increase land productivity through the combined production of renewable energy and food. Although several studies have addressed their impact on crop production, many aspects remain unexplored. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of AV on the cultivation of celeriac, a common root vegetable in Central E...

Insulation materials decrease the final energy consumption of buildings. In Germany, fossil and mineral insulations dominate the market despite numerous Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) showing that bio‐based insulations can offer environmental benefits. Evaluating the results of such LCAs is however complex due to a lack of comparability or costs con...

The global demand for plant biomass to provide bioenergy and heat is continuously increasing because of a growing interest among many industrialized and developing countries towards climate sound and renewable energy supply. The exacerbation of land-use conflicts proliferates social-ecological demands on future bioenergy cropping systems. Perennial...

Background / Issues: Food security high on the agenda of SGDs Agricultural land suitable for food crop cultivation limited and rather decreasing (land degradation through wind- and water erosion, sea level rise) Land use conflicts increasing Climate change-forced shifts in marginal agricultural land may also become crucial for achieving & maintain...

The combination of bioethanol production and carbon capture and storage technologies (BECCS) is considered an indispensable method for the achievement of the targets set by the Paris agreement. In Croatia, a first-of-its-kind biorefinery project is currently underway that aims to integrate a second-generation ethanol plant into an existing fossil r...

Social Life-Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) is under continuous development. The Methodological Sheets for Subcategories in S-LCA are a set of guidelines commonly used for the performance of such assessments. They cover a variety of stakeholders and subcategories for the social assessment of products in general. However, they may not necessarily be approp...

Die Energieströme auf der Erde speisen sich aus verschiedenen Quellen, die im Folgenden zunächst dargestellt werden. Dabei hat aber an der gesamten auf der Erde umgesetzten Energie die Sonnenenergie einen Anteil von nahezu 100%; d.h. sie dominiert eindeutig das „Energiesystem Erde“. Dabei trägt die Solarenergie nicht nur direkt, sondern in vielerle...

Carbon neutrality in the transport sector is a key challenge for the growing bioeconomy as the share of biofuels has stagnated over the past decade. This can be attributed to basic economics and a lack of a robust market for these technologies. Consequently, more sustainable biomass supply concepts are required that reduce negative impacts on the e...

Due to increased global demand for vegetable oils, diversification of the supply chain with sustainable sources is necessary. Acrocomia aculeata has recently gained attention as a multi-purpose, sustainable crop for oil production. However, the information necessary for effective selection of promising varieties for agricultural production is lacki...

Aim: This study presents an economic assessment of an up- and downstream process for the co-production of fucoxanthin and eicosapentaenoic acid using the diatom P. tricornutum in commercial flat-panel airlift photobioreactors with artificial illumination. Methods: For the first time, comprehensive experimental data on the cultivation of P. tricornu...

Perennial rhizomatous grasses (PRG), such as miscanthus and switchgrass, are considered promising lignocellulosic feedstocks. Their cultivation is expected to experience a significant increase in the near future, as it offers a wide range of benefits. For instance, when PRG replace typical annual crops, positive biodiversity impacts are usually ant...

This study presents an economic assessment of an up- and downstream process for the co-production of fucoxanthin and eicosapentaenoic acid using the diatom P. tricornutum in commercial flat-panel airlift photobioreactors with artificial illumination. For the first time, comprehensive experimental data on the cultivation of P. tricornutum and the ex...

Miscanthus is a promising bioeconomy crop with several biomass utilisation pathways. However, its current cultivation area in Europe is relatively low. This is most likely due to a lack of knowledge about the implementation of miscanthus into farming systems. This study reviews current best practices and suitable land areas for miscanthus cultivati...

Die Landesregierung Baden-Württemberg hat sich 2012 als eines der ersten Bundesländer in Deutschland dazu entschlossen, eine eigene Bioökonomie-Forschungsstrategie zu entwickeln. Das Kapitel beschreibt die Konzeption und die Zusammenarbeit innerhalb des daraus resultierenden Forschungsprogramms. Übergeordnete Ziele der vom Ministerium für Wissensch...

The research objective of this study is the development of long-term sustainable Marginal Agricultural Land Low-Input Systems for industrial crop cultivation. And the research question of this study is: How bioenergy cropping systems of tomorrow could be made more sustainable under social-ecological terms. It was found that there are five main requ...

Maize silage is the main biogas co‐substrate in Germany, but its use is often questioned due to negative environmental impacts. Perennial wild plant mixtures (WPM) are increasingly considered alternatives, as these extensive systems improve soil quality and enhance agrobiodiversity. Methane yields per hectare however do not match those of maize. Th...

In brief: The consideration and assessment of ecosystem services at the planning stage of new biobased value chains enables the development and implementation of biomass cropping systems that better support biodiversity and resilience in times of climate change than business as usual. For example, ecosystem services support biological pest and dise...

In the origin of biomass, a distinction is made between primary and secondary biomass flows. Primary biomass is formed by autotrophic organisms. These are plants, algae and certain bacteria. They are able to produce their mass through the use of solar energy in the process of photosynthesis. Secondary biomass is produced on the basis of the consump...

This study reports on the effects of two rhizome-based establishment procedures ‘miscanthus under maize’ (MUM) and ‘reference’ (REF) on the methane yield per hectare (MYH) of miscanthus in a field trial in southwest Germany. The dry matter yield (DMY) of aboveground biomass was determined each year in autumn over four years (2016–2019). A biogas ba...

Bioeconomy comprises the production of all goods that stem from bio-based, renewable raw materials. This contribution focuses on the production of biomass from crops cultivated as energy crops and on ecosystem services that go beyond the production function. Today, many industrial and energy crops are annuals that have been diverted from food and f...

The growing bioeconomy will require a greater supply of biomass in the future for both bioenergy and bio-based products. Today, many bioenergy cropping systems (BCS) are suboptimal due to either social-ecological threats or technical limitations. In addition, the competition for land between bioenergy-crop cultivation, food-crop cultivation, and bi...

Biogas production is a key renewable energy pathway for a more sustainable future bioeconomy. However, there is a crucial trade-off between biomass productivity and social-ecological sustainability of available biogas cropping systems. Permanent grassland has been frequently promoted as a promising perennial cropping system for biomass production....

Species-rich hay meadows are usually managed extensively to maintain their biodiversity, with the harvested biomass traditionally being fed to ruminants for milk or meat production. The quality of the biomass is, however, variable, difficult to predict and often does not fulfil today’s requirements. This study established a field trial at two speci...

Miscanthus is a promising high-yielding and low-input perennial biomass crop. However, as miscanthus does not produce nectar, it provides less support for pollinators than other perennial biomass crops, such as cup plant, Virginia mallow, or wild plant mixtures. This study discusses whether miscanthus could be intercropped with flower-rich biennial...

As the prevalence of diabetes is predicted to rise globally in the coming decades, the demand for sugar substitutes is expected to increase significantly. In this context, natural sweeteners have been receiving particular attention, as artificial sweeteners have been associated with obesity and cardiovascular disease. One natural sweetener is yacon...

The cultivation of perennial wild plant mixtures (WPM) in biogas cropping systems dominated by maize (Zea mays L.) restores numerous ecosystem functions and improves both spatial and temporal agrobiodiversity. In addition, the colorful appearance of WPM can help enhance landscape beauty. However, their methane yield per hectare (MYH) varies greatly...

This study deals with approaches for a social-ecological friendly European bioeconomy based on biomass from industrial crops cultivated on marginal agricultural land. The selected crops to be investigated are: Biomass sorghum, camelina, cardoon, castor, crambe, Ethiopian mustard, giant reed, hemp, lupin, miscanthus, pennycress, poplar, reed canary...

Abstract Biomass crops, such as willow, are often characterized by low shoot density and high variability in yield and biomass quality parameters. To deliver reliable information on crop production and biomass quality aspects, the adoption of an appropriate sampling area and method are essential. The current study investigated the optimal sampling...

The bioeconomy, with its aim of replacing fossil by biobased resources, is increasingly focusing on biomass production from perennial crops, such as miscanthus. To date, research on miscanthus has explored a number of cultivation aspects; however, one major issue has not yet been addressed: How can former miscanthus fields be re‐integrated into a c...

The expansion of renewable energies aims at meeting the global energy demand while replacing fossil fuels. However, it requires large areas of land. At the same time, food security is threatened by the impacts of climate change and a growing world population. This has led to increasing competition for limited land resources. In this context, the co...

Miscanthus is one of the most promising perennial herbaceous industrial crops worldwide mainly due to its high resource-use efficiency and biomass yield. However, the extent of miscanthus cultivation across Europe is still lagging far behind its real potential. Major limiting factors are high initial costs and low biomass yields in the crop establi...